Strange tire wear pattern

MaxL · 11-20-2011, 05:00 PM

I just took off my summers (Neova AD08), and I am wondering if the wear I am seeing is abnormal. I am running Ground Control springs with -2.4 front -1.4 rear camber and close to zero toe at front and stock at rear. I used tires for track (14 days or so) and mostly highway driving, and I did not rotate them because I was planning to get rid of them this fall anyway - the rubber lost grip from heat cycles & time and started cracking.

Both tires on the left (driver) side are worn as I expected - front with slightly more wear on the inside, rear - even across the thread, with slightly more wear on both shoulders. But on the right (passenger) side both front and rear are much more worn on the inside, with front having a ring with thread missing completely (not corded) and rear having under 1mm of thread just off the inside shoulder and more everywhere else.

Is this a reason to check alignment or is this normal, given that all tracks I've been to this summer were clockwise (more right turns), and I do more right turns in street driving as well?

Alignment would probably be a good idea for piece of mind, but I've done it less than six months ago, and getting the car to someone I trust is difficult now.

JAJ · 11-20-2011, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaxL

I just took off my summers (Neova AD08), and I am wondering if the wear I am seeing is abnormal. I am running Ground Control springs with -2.4 front -1.4 rear camber and close to zero toe at front and stock at rear. I used tires for track (14 days or so) and mostly highway driving, and I did not rotate them because I was planning to get rid of them this fall anyway - the rubber lost grip from heat cycles & time and started cracking.

Both tires on the left (driver) side are worn as I expected - front with slightly more wear on the inside, rear - even across the thread, with slightly more wear on both shoulders. But on the right (passenger) side both front and rear are much more worn on the inside, with front having a ring with thread missing completely (not corded) and rear having under 1mm of thread just off the inside shoulder and more everywhere else.

Is this a reason to check alignment or is this normal, given that all tracks I've been to this summer were clockwise (more right turns), and I do more right turns in street driving as well?

Alignment would probably be a good idea for piece of mind, but I've done it less than six months ago, and getting the car to someone I trust is difficult now.

When you're not at the track what are the roads like - was this all highway or was it all rural perhaps? Otherwise, it doesn't sound right to me, and an alignment would be in order.

rzm3 · 11-20-2011, 08:21 PM

A couple thoughts based on my experience.

1) If all the tracks you drive are predominantly clockwise, most of the passenger side tire wear would occur on the inside edge. Try rotating them regularly next year. If you look at NASCAR (left turn only), left and right side wheels have completely different camber settings.

2) The above plus highway/street driving exacerbates the wear on the inner edge.

If you did 14 days of track this year, I would get an alignment done anyway before the track season restarts.

Gearhead999s · 11-20-2011, 09:00 PM

Max.That is pretty normal when run at tracks like Mosport where the majority of turns are one direction.With our race car at Mosport we used to run with our camber set at 2.75 on the left and 1.5 on the right to get proper tire temps and wear.We usually ran different alignment settings at every track we raced at to get the handing that we wanted to suit the track.With our street cars we all tend to comprimise on our settings on the track so we can have unusual tire wear on track.I usually flip my tires about halfway through their life to get full life out the tires on a street driven car.

MaxL · 11-21-2011, 04:35 PM

Thanks for good info! I completely forgot about the road camber - I've done most of the off-track driving on rural scenic routes and narrow roads, sloping down on the outside (to the right). So I guess no reason to worry about aliment. I will still do it before the next track season.

Rotating tires is definitely a good point - I just did not bother with this set because they started losing grip when they still had thread (14 track days of 4-5 sessions a day plus two seasons of street driving is a lot of heat cycles I guess).

11-20-2011, 05:00 PM	#1
MaxL Captain 69 Rep 957 Posts Drives: E90 M3, Cayenne T, 991 GT3 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bay Area iTrader: (0)	Strange tire wear pattern I just took off my summers (Neova AD08), and I am wondering if the wear I am seeing is abnormal. I am running Ground Control springs with -2.4 front -1.4 rear camber and close to zero toe at front and stock at rear. I used tires for track (14 days or so) and mostly highway driving, and I did not rotate them because I was planning to get rid of them this fall anyway - the rubber lost grip from heat cycles & time and started cracking. Both tires on the left (driver) side are worn as I expected - front with slightly more wear on the inside, rear - even across the thread, with slightly more wear on both shoulders. But on the right (passenger) side both front and rear are much more worn on the inside, with front having a ring with thread missing completely (not corded) and rear having under 1mm of thread just off the inside shoulder and more everywhere else. Is this a reason to check alignment or is this normal, given that all tracks I've been to this summer were clockwise (more right turns), and I do more right turns in street driving as well? Alignment would probably be a good idea for piece of mind, but I've done it less than six months ago, and getting the car to someone I trust is difficult now.
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11-20-2011, 08:21 PM	#3
rzm3 Moderator 673 Rep 4,737 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: USA iTrader: (18)	A couple thoughts based on my experience. 1) If all the tracks you drive are predominantly clockwise, most of the passenger side tire wear would occur on the inside edge. Try rotating them regularly next year. If you look at NASCAR (left turn only), left and right side wheels have completely different camber settings. 2) The above plus highway/street driving exacerbates the wear on the inner edge. If you did 14 days of track this year, I would get an alignment done anyway before the track season restarts.
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11-20-2011, 09:00 PM	#4
Gearhead999s Major General 817 Rep 7,887 Posts Drives: RR Velar R=Dynamic M2C R1200GS Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Toronto iTrader: (0)	Max.That is pretty normal when run at tracks like Mosport where the majority of turns are one direction.With our race car at Mosport we used to run with our camber set at 2.75 on the left and 1.5 on the right to get proper tire temps and wear.We usually ran different alignment settings at every track we raced at to get the handing that we wanted to suit the track.With our street cars we all tend to comprimise on our settings on the track so we can have unusual tire wear on track.I usually flip my tires about halfway through their life to get full life out the tires on a street driven car.
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11-21-2011, 04:35 PM	#5
MaxL Captain 69 Rep 957 Posts Drives: E90 M3, Cayenne T, 991 GT3 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bay Area iTrader: (0)	Thanks for good info! I completely forgot about the road camber - I've done most of the off-track driving on rural scenic routes and narrow roads, sloping down on the outside (to the right). So I guess no reason to worry about aliment. I will still do it before the next track season. Rotating tires is definitely a good point - I just did not bother with this set because they started losing grip when they still had thread (14 track days of 4-5 sessions a day plus two seasons of street driving is a lot of heat cycles I guess).
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